Torrington’s Bowman Community Gardens serve seniors

Over 70 raised beds produce bushels of vegetables at the Bowman Community Garden at 1640 Mountain St.

Over 70 raised beds produce bushels of vegetables at the Bowman Community Garden at 1640 Mountain St.

Photo: Contributed Photo / Kerry Palmer / Sullivan Senior Center

Photo: Contributed Photo / Kerry Palmer / Sullivan Senior Center

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Over 70 raised beds produce bushels of vegetables at the Bowman Community Garden at 1640 Mountain St.

Over 70 raised beds produce bushels of vegetables at the Bowman Community Garden at 1640 Mountain St.

Photo: Contributed Photo / Kerry Palmer / Sullivan Senior Center

Torrington’s Bowman Community Gardens serve seniors

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TORRINGTON — The new pavilion at the Bowman Community Gardens has become the site of an informal garden club for members of the Sullivan Senior Center.

The 20-by-40-foot pavilion contains picnic tables and provides shade for gardeners who want to take a break from the afternoon sun.

“They are hanging out and sharing vegetables and recipes,” said Joel Sekorski, the center’s director of Services for the Elderly. “They spend time there, have coffee and take the opportunity to get outside the walls of the center.”

The pavilion was dedicated in September, after it was designed and built by students from Oliver Wolcott Technical School. The project began last fall, and the students worked through the winter and spring. Sekorski said.

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“This is the (center’s) largest-scale community project since 2014,” Sekorski said, and perhaps one of the largest in decades. The majority of the project was paid for with donations, he added.

“It was a labor of love,” Sekorski said. “We are very fortunate that people believed in what we wanted to do.”

The pavilion’s nickname is “Boulli’s Castle,” in recognition of the oversight provided by volunteer coordinator Rich Boulli.

“When he came on board, it just took off,” said Kerry Palmer, senior account clerk at the Sullivan Center.

The gardens, located at 1649 Mountain Road, contain 70 raised beds that are in such demand that there is a waiting list for a space. This season, 60 gardeners signed up to cultivate and tend the plots. Use of the garden is free to residents over 60, Sekorski said.

Rose DeMarie has grown vegetables in the community garden for four years.

“It is so rewarding to plant a little seed and watch it come up,” she said. “I love it when my kale comes up. I make soup with it or saute it.”

This summer’s heat and heavy rain, however, made gardening difficult this year, DeMarie said.

“It started out very well. I picked some zucchini and gave it to my neighbors,” she said. “I let a big one grow and the whole thing rotted. Nature ruined it.”

But that didn’t stop her from gardening, DeMarie said. “I picked broccoli rabe last week. It’s enjoyable to get dirt in your nails,” she said.

As a gardener for about 50 years, DeMarie has some advice for novices. “Be patient. Buy different things. If it doesn’t work, try something else,” she said.

The land for the community garden was donated by the Heritage Land Trust in the 1970s, Sikorski said. The raised beds were added in 2010 and additional beds were built in 2014.